Friday, June 03, 2016

H-space MGB Profile: Glass Arachne

Name: Glass ArachneType: ArachneHabitat: Underground Caves

Description:
One of the many types of arachne or spider-woman demon that infest the cave systems beneath the surface of H-space. They are a nightmarish combination of spider and woman, with a humanoid torso replacing the head of a gigantic spider. All arachnes encountered so far have been female and it is unknown whether male arachnes exist at all.

Glass arachne are unusual in that the integument of their spider half is completely transparent. Before coming to H-space I might have postulated it an adaptation for living in lightless caves. Now I wouldn't be surprised if it's because the spider demon wants to show exactly what she's doing to her prey's penis while it is inside her.

Attack Strategy:
As with Earth spiders, glass arachnes use webs to catch prey. Their webs are pink rather than white. This is because the silk is impregnated with a powerful aphrodisiac toxin that is absorbed on skin contact. Vibrations in the web inform the arachne of potential prey and the aphrodisiac venom keeps the prey distracted long enough for the arachne to reach them and drag them off with ropes of sticky silk.

Once in her lair the arachne wraps her prey up in a cocoon of venom-saturated silk. Exposure to larger quantities of the aphrodisiac toxin triggers a physiological change in the subject that results in massive overproduction of seminal fluids at the expense of all other biological processes. The arachne stimulates her prey sexually and slowly sucks out all their fluids through their penis. While the intermediary steps are more complex, the end result is exactly what you'd expect to see if a man was predated on by a giant spider—a mummified husk wrapped up in silk.

The glass arachne can imbibe their victim's fluids through her mouth, vagina, anus and even the specialised canal where her silks are produced. They seem to prefer using their abdomen, despite its repulsive non-human appearance. I suspect they gain a perverse delight from this, as they seem to enjoy showing their victims what they're doing to them and will often pick a sexual position that allows their victim to see his own penis inside her.

Countermeasures:
Despite the glass arachne's delicate glass-like appearance, their exoskeleton, even the parts covering their human half, is hard enough to function as protective armour. Small calibre bullets and knives will have trouble penetrating. As with other arachnes, they don't like fire and flamethrowers have proven very effective.

Glass arachne webs should not be touched without protective clothing as the aphrodisiac toxin is absorbed through the skin and acts quickly.

For a while we were able to lure arachnes into traps by vibrating their webs and ambushing those that came to investigate. Unfortunately, they possess human-equivalent intelligence and quickly wised up to this strategy. The last time it was attempted it resulted in a counter-ambush that resulted in the loss of the whole team.